All funds raised at the event, held Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be donated to Arnette House Inc., a charitable nonprofit organization that provides shelter, counseling and transitional living programs to families and youth.

“It’s a quick, simple way to help the environment and help a local charity,” said Michelle Coates, director of marketing and the online marketing specialist for Sun Digital.

She said those with electronics can drive into the parking lot across from the Ocala mural that says “Welcome to Ocala,” and items will be unloaded for them.

Last year, Sun Digital collected about 5 tons of electronics, and the company expects to meet that annual goal again this year, Coates said.

“We have put on seven of these different recycling events over the past year and a half, and we choose a different local charity each time,” she said.

Sun Digital chose to partner with Arnette House for this event because of the charity’s focus on families and children in the community, Coates said.

For each event, Sun Digital works with a local, certified recycling company to properly dispose of the electronics. The recycling company gives the money it earns from the disposal of the metals in the electronics to Sun Digital, which then donates the money to the charity. Sun Digital is partnering with Recycle All Electronics for this event.

“It’s just a nice way to actually do two different things: save the environment from depositing these items in landfills, which is not good for the landfills and for the people around them, and then also that money helps a local charity,” Coates said.

Coates said recycling electronics helps keep toxins out of the soil.

“If you don’t recycle these, they just break down into the environment and then get into the ground soil which can then, in turn, get into the water reserves,” she said.

Coates said people can donate most electronic items.

“It’s pretty much anything with a cord,” she said, adding that most items are recycled free of charge. Tube televisions, however, are recycled at a fee of $5 to $10 because of their lead content.

Adam Copenhaver, community development coordinator for Arnette House, said he hopes the event will help raise awareness of the needs of at-risk youth in the community.

“We have been in the local community for over 30 years helping at-risk youth and their families,” he said. “The need is great, and the more that we are able to raise the more families we are able to help here in the local community.”